George: “After all, ontology precedes oncology.”
Webber: “I do believe you mean ‘epistemology’.”
George: “Please… Has there ever been anything more cancerous than knowledge? From knowledge, man learnt to sharpen arrows, create dictatorships, and build atomic bombs!”
Webber: “That’s true, but man has also created suturing needles, democracies, and nuclear power plants.”
George: “All capitalist gain. They all amount to men fighting men for power and material goods. And what happens when a man gets old? His things become meaningless. His whole life is thrown away on gaining luxury and he is alone. He is distracted from the meaningful things.”
Webber: “Only if he abuses his wealth and power! If he moderates those, he can provide for a lover and a family.”
George: “Yes, and only to watch those go too through death or distance.”
Webber: “That’s true as well, but what else is there to live for in this life? To seek the truth, to love and be loved, to be happy – to avoid these simply because they are impermanent is ridiculous. I would rather know love before death than not. After all, cancer or not, we all die. Some of us just know what will kill us.”
Madman's Lantern 